Monday, February 8, 2010

So Much for Technology

So, while I lay in bed-wide-eyed and impossibly awake at 4am this morning, my mind began to do some work. Not with my permission, mind you. I was running through my to-do list, and invariably ran though a few things on my pattern-making project. I was thinking, I need to really finish that bodice sloper because I need to gain some momentum. Then it struck me--drawing this on the computer is a complete waste of my time. In the end, I will have to take that fitted bodice and transfer those new marks/measurements to paper. Most might think, so? Well, remember the Bechemel quality of this piece. I don't make this pattern to wear--this is the pattern I "alter" to create the patterns I wear. It is the base, the beginning, the kick-off if you will. Unless I sit down and meticulously measure all the new lines and angles of the fitted bodice, and then transfer them to the computer drawing, there is no way I can use the computer drawing to create other patterns.

huh.

So maybe mother nature was telling me to draw these by hand all those weeks ago.

And now everything is different. No more work a little here, work a little there on the computer--which is perfect when you have a toddler running around. No, I have to create a workspace, which is far more difficult when someone wants to "help."

I need to add here that our little angel has a receptive language problem--which means, among other things, he doesn't always "get" what I say. So it isn't as simple as just sitting him down and rationalizing with him in a way you can with other three-year-olds. And I must also mention that lately, he finds it "amusing" when I tell him no. (oh yes, he has mastered and understands that one--understands it enough that he knows laughing at me when I say it will get under my skin and make me cranky, which he no doubt finds more amusing than Yo Gabba Gabba and Blues Clues combined. I told you, it's a language problem not a thinking problem. In other aspects, he is a very typical, very normal kid. He can manipulate with the best, he just uses different tools other than language...)

So do I wait until he naps? That IS my traditional studio time--but its also the time I get orders done. Which, I have to mention I haven't been able to do because someone isn't napping as "regularly" as he has in the past ( an issue with which I currently refuse to come to grips).

Or do I try to set up something on the table, and hope he doesn't destroy it before I have a change to grab that sharpie out of his grubby little fist? (yikes! Sharpies!) If you have children, I know you feel my dilemma.

When I set up my studio downstairs, I figured it would be the best place. a) I have a lot of stuff. I mean A LOT and b) it was a place away from the sightline of chores needing to be done, and other temptations. Ben isn't really old enough, (or receptive enough) to play down there while I work, and since it's in our "basement" there are other hazards down there that could cause him some trouble. Not to mention that the floor is just filthy concrete that I try to keep swept, but let's face the reality of a poorly hung door and wind...

I find myself yearning for a space up here that is also kid-friendly(ish), where he might play and I might work (does such a fantasy land exist?) Or at lease be in the next room playing while I work. Where I can get up from time to time and make him laugh by telling him no. Great--something else to distract me from the work i need and want to do...